A German loop rosary

I made this piece for two reasons: first, to demonstrate that rosary beads were not always round, and second, all rosaries and paternosters do not have to have a cross. (I also had this huge amber bead that I was wondering what to do with!)

There are surviving German beads that look quite a bit like this. The one pictured here, from Salzburg, has 16 faceted jasper beads; I decided to use 15 on mine, as it's 1/10th of the 150 psalms or of the 150 paternosters said on prayer beads before the rosary.

The beads in my replica are carved horn, with four curved facets very similar to the faceted jasper on the original. The amber bead with silver caps — which is probably actually copal resin with low-grade silver — was bought from an Asian gem dealer. Amber is a fossilized tree resin, rather like solidified pine pitch. Copal is a similar tree resin, but much younger and often softer and less transparent. It's also considerably more abundant and less expensive.

For the amber bead and the saint figure, my inspiration was a Passion rosary from Germany (below) that ended with the same sort of combination. This rosary has fifty beads in five decades, along with a number of charms or shaped beads relating to the Passion, but its ending is a large amber bead with silver caps, hung from a ring, and below it a very worn silver pendant showing a pair of saints (I don't think there's enough information to suggest which ones.)

The figure of St. Christopher on my replica is sterling silver and about an inch tall. I bought it from someone on eBay because it was just perfect for this rosary.

This rosary could easily be worn as a bracelet.